Calls to boost Arkansas teachers' salaries went unheeded at the Capitol this summer. Brian Chilson

The state’s record surplus balance will go toward tax cuts for Arkansas’s wealthiest citizens, while our public school educators are left high and dry.

Republican lawmakers shut down Democrats’ (and a few Republicans’) last-ditch effort to keep lawmakers at the state Capitol long enough to at least consider raising educators’ pay.

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Arkansas legislators passed the tax cuts and a $50 million allocation for yet unspecified school security measures, then quickly voted to adjourn the session, blocking the push to bring beginning teacher pay up from the 48th spot in the nation.

By adjourning the session today, Republican legislators made sure Arkansas’s near-total ban on abortion stands, and a plan that would cut taxes for low and middle earners and leave tax rates for the wealthy alone will never see the light of day.

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Senate Democrats weren’t even allowed to make their case for boosting teacher pay before their Republicans shut them down by voting to adjourn. Republican Sens. Jason Rapert and Alan Clark joined the Democrats’ bid to keep the session open long enough to consider more issues, although it’s certain boosting teacher pay was not what those two had in mind. Regardless, the vote to adjourn in the Senate was 24 to eight.

On the House side, a few Democrats and one Republican implored their colleagues to stay in session a few more days to pass teacher pay raises, but the 61 representatives who voted to end the session and go home instead were clearly unmoved. All but a handful of House Republicans voted to adjourn without considering teacher raises, abortion ban tweaks or anything else, while every one of the overwhelmed contingent of House Democrats voted to stay.

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Rep. David Tollett, a Republican from Marvell who is not seeking reelection and is therefore free to speak his mind without worrying about how it might affect his campaign, is one of the five Republicans who signed on to co-sponsor the RAISE Act that would give all public school teachers in the state a $4,000 raise and boost the minimum starting salary to $42,000, up from $36,000. Speaking from the House well, Tollett called out the duplicity of lawmakers who argue we should wait for the results of an adequacy study before considering boosting educator pay.

“When I became legislator I was told let processes play out, to let this adequacy study play out and whatever else before we do any appropriations. But we just voted, pretty much unanimously, to approve $50 million for school safety that’s not going to go to every school, without letting the process play out. Which means we can do what we want.”

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Tollett was referring to a $50 million allocation for school security, which the legislature signed off on this week despite having zero details yet on how the money will be spent, or by whom. (The pessimists among us suspect the money will pay for G.I. Joe cosplay props including guns, Kevlar vests and maybe those dumpster-like bulletproof metal boxes to stow kids in during active shooter situations.)

The call to wait for results of an adequacy study is an obvious excuse by leading Republicans to stall on the educator pay raise issue and remain focused on their priority tax cuts that will go mainly to the state’s top 10%.

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You don’t need a study to run the numbers and see that Arkansas educators make less than almost any others in the nation, or that our teachers are jumping ship for higher paying positions in neighboring states, Tollett said.

Democratic Reps. Tippi McCullough and Fred Love also made last-minute pleas for the House to stay in session to pass teacher and support staff raises in the face of a teacher shortage that has principals scrambling to staff their classrooms. Recent polling suggests teachers leaving the field or leaving the state to work elsewhere would consider sticking around for more pay.

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“Our teachers are getting poached, and it’s in our face. Colleagues, we must deal with this issue, and we must deal with it now,” Love implored, to no avail.

Having passed tax cuts mainly for the top 10% and set aside $50 million in mad money for war toys in schools, Arkansas Republicans voted to adjourn without raising teacher salaries. They aren’t scheduled to meet again until next year.